Aisle Be Seeing You

Dance Across the City, a Photographic Reprise

Adam Gopnik, in the January 8 issue of The New Yorker, wrote of the press box at Giants Stadium (the pride of East Rutherford, New Jersey) that it was "That vital place where the fulcrum of the First Amendment, free food, is celebrated by reporters for hours on end every Sunday morning..."

We were on to something similar with Dance Across the City (DATC) this past weekend. Our First Amendment fulcrum was free dance - specifically, free dance performances and classes over two days (January 5 & 6). DATC toes the constitutional line as far as "the right of the people peaceably to assemble," (if we're lucky, everything we do draws a peacable, sold-out house) but not surprisingly, there was also a lot of Free Speech going on as well - the 5 to 8 year olds being the least inhibited "speakers." Next year, come watch that group in ballet class - it's a sight not to be missed.

You have "heard" from my camera in recent DATC postings, but it's time to get a load of what professional (though generously volunteered) equipment and talent can produce:

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, "Sinner Man" from Revelations

Boston Arts Academy dancers stretch out backstage at The Strand

Renee Jaworski and Otis Cook of Pilobolus in performance at the Strand

Dance Across the City Day ballet class

Members of OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center on The Citi Shubert stage


Karah Abiog of Complexions dance company leads a modern dance class

Two legitimate holidays

"Only two legitimate holidays remain. By 'legitimate' holidays, I mean this: holidays with a specific, naturally evolved meaning, the celebration of which we find refreshing and correct, and in the celebration of which we, as a People, are united. Those holidays are the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards."

-excerpt from Writing in Restaurants by David Mamet

Stravinsky: James Brown, Andy Warhol and Jimmy Durante

After reading a quote on the Monotonous Forest blog that Igor Stravinsky had counted James Brown among his favorite composers, I became curious how many - if any - interviews with the composer could be found online (and, of course, could I confirm the James Brown line). While I had no luck confirming the quote, I did find a fascinating little nugget of an interview with Stravinsky published in The New York Review of Books from March 1971. Here's a snippet:

"NYR: Does the state of the arts really depress you?

I.S.: Oh no. We live in a very exhilarating time, a little short of a Golden Age, perhaps, but, well, consider, in the visual arts, the recent Warhol retrospective at the Tate; in the dramatic arts, Broadway category, the revival of the Betty Boop period; in literature, the new genre of reality recalled on tape (bestselling fall title: "Manson's Love Life As Told By His 'Family' "); and in music, the increasing involvement of everybody except the composer. And these developments have in turn produced a great critic, Jimmy Durante, who described it all very accurately when he observed that 'Everybody is getting into the act.'" Read more of the interview.

Dance Across the City at The Strand Theatre: a brief photo essay

 
543 Columbia Avenue, Dorchester, Mass.

Are there any theatre lobbies in town that wouldn't be improved by the addition of a large picture of John Coltrane?

The original Strand Theatre Wurlitzer from 1918...I wonder if Duke Ellington ever played it or if it was used to accompany Ray Bolger?

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre closes the program and brings down the house

What a fun event this was; the audience certainly saw a wide variety of dance and without question some eyes were opened. Some personal highlights....Pilobolus getting wild applause mid-dance for each remarkable move they executed (it was a great contrast to the typically inward response of a "dance audience" - I bet dancers need that kind of response at some level, just "Wow!"), bet Pilobolus didn't get that reception when they danced Symbiosis at The Shubert in December!...watching Otis Cook from Pilobolus sign programs after the show for a beautiful, shy girl with braces who looked to be about eight...watching Misa Kuranga and Reyneris Reyes from Boston Ballet partially obscured by a piece of P.A.equipment while I stood far stage right. I love seeing old forms squeezed into new venues; that P.A. equipment announced that we weren't in the closed set of a ballet performance, but that ballet was on a field trip...the tremendous performance given by the dancers from the Boston Arts Academy (didn't I tell you?)...watching the Arts Academy dancers watching Ailey from the back of the house, some gaping, some dancing along...watching Kirven Boyd from the Ailey company - a Boston native - standing in front of the theatre after the performance looking poised and confident among family and friends...watching Mayor Menino standing calmly at the front of house just watching his constituents...the fancier uniforms worn by several of Boston's Finest (do they have to dress up for the mayor?).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You should have been there...

Tomorrow it's Citi Performance Center - all day, pull on your tights and get down there, ok?

Dance Across the City at The Strand Theatre

Close readers may recognize the geographical challenges implied by the title of this post (Let's see, "dance across the City at The Strand...the Strand Theatre is a portal to another dimension, perhaps? Sorry, we've run through all the DATC puns). No matter. Tonight's Dance Across the City at The Strand Theatre promises to be great fun, what with dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pilobolus and Boston Ballet performing. However, I want to point out that tonight's lone "non-professional" group (they are clearly not mere amateurs) are from Boston Arts Academy (you know, right over by Fenway Park) And they are not slouches, just check out the photo above. That's right, Bostonians, the amazing leaps in this photo were leaped by kids from your town! Very cool.

And then there's tomorrow.

Hilary Hahn and Chenery Middle School, BFA

Violinist Hilary Hahn at Chenery Middle School in 2004

I looked on Hilary Hahn's web site to see if the student essays from her 2004 visit to Chenery Middle School in Belmont, Mass, (a visit arranged by the Celebrity Series' Arts, Education and Community Program, thank you) were still there, and lo and behold, they are! And they are as charming, and as ridiculously mature as I remembered. Here's a bit from Juliette, age 12 (she must be 14 now):

"I find that music - any music - is the key to something, be it a memory, relaxation, or a state of mind. Different music opens the door to a different emotion or time, just as a smell does: maple sugar will always remind me of my birthday, and wood smoke will always make me think of winter. Not only do smells trigger memories, but sound makes you recall certain times, as well. Whether the sound is music or the sound of raindrops on a window pane, it triggers memories as well as, if not better than, a smell. Music does this best for me. My grandfather died three years ago, and there is one song by Mark Erelli that always makes me think of him, and sometimes makes me cry, whenever I hear it."

Hilary Hahn returns to Jordan Hall January 12.

Jazz Week

It's official, The Honorable Thomas M. Menino, mayor of our fair city, has proclaimed the week of April 21-29 to be Jazz Week in the City of Boston. The good people at JazzBoston (with whom I have some involvement, you should know) are behind Jazz Week. I don't think anything is posted, yet, but visit their web site as info will be available there as things develop.

The Celebrity Series, for this is the Celebrity Series blog, after all, are not presenting any specifically jazz-related performances during jazz week (we book very far in advance, don't you know), though you can hardly call Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater unrelated to jazz...

Speaking of our mayor, he will be in host mode for the opening event of Dance Across the City tomorrow night at The Strand Theatre.

Program notes for Hilary Hahn's January 12 recital

Violinist Hilary Hahn brings a program of Leos Janáček, Mozart, Giuseppe Tartini, Eugene Ysaÿe, and Beethoven. You can read Eric Bromberger's program notes here.

Martin Sherman on "Rose"

Playwright Martin Sherman

Writer Don Shewey has an immense and wonderful library of his articles on his web site, including an interview from The New York Times with playwright Martin Sherman. Sherman is perhaps best known as the author of the play Bent, which portrays the persecution of homosexuals in Hitler's Germany. But he is also the author of Rose, which portrays "the restless journey of a 20th century Jewish life." That life is Rose's, the only character in the play, an 80 year-old woman who never rises from her park bench throughout, but rivets as she recounts her remarkable life (Olympia Dukakis is performing Rose for the Celebrity Series January 16-21). Here is an excerpt of Martin Sherman: Dramatizing a Century of Jewish Memories:

"'Rose' arose from a burst of millennial fever on the playwright’s part. 'I wanted to tell the full story of this woman’s life,' said Mr. Sherman over Portobello mushrooms at a kosher French bistro in Times Square. 'I wanted to present the experience of what it was like being a European Jew in this century. How else are you going to do it? Write a play that begins when she’s 20 and ends when she’s 80? You’d need three different actresses, and a cast of 400, and some kind of spectacle. It would be too overwhelming."


Olympia Dukakis as Rose

The selection of Olympia Dukakis to play Rose was based on a longstanding familiarity with her work:

"'I had seen her onstage a great deal because when I was a freshman at Boston University, she was a graduate student,' said Sherman. 'I was the chorus to her Clytemnestra in ‘Agamemnon.’ So I’ve been seeing her since I was 17.' The performance that stands out most for him, though, is Ms. Dukakis’ turn as Mrs. Madrigal in the PBS series based on Armistead Maupin’s 'Tales of the City,' which he calls 'one of the most beautiful and nuanced I’ve ever seen anywhere.'"

Read all of Martin Sherman: Dramatizing a Century of Jewish Memories

Start the New Year off right